A tenacious attorney uncovers a dark secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. While trying to expose the truth, he soon finds himself risking his future, his family and his own life.
I was fortunate enough to be able to check this film out 2 weeks before it's official release, I am always especially excited for these types of films when they are based on a real story and provide an insight into top-secret material because they help to make the film feel more intense and to promote more of a message. Dark Waters essentially follows the story of a big-time lawyer who delves into chemical companies chemical creations and the poising that it is carrying out on the public. But before the film, I was excited to see the cast in action, it's a great cast and promises a lot. But the main question though, does this film sink or swim? Here are my thoughts.
The start of the film felt strange, but only because it wasn't something I was used to seeing, the film introduced itself with Mark Ruffalo introducing the story and explaining how we can help out. I liked this, and it helped to create a feeling of urgency and realism before the title had even come up, I also feel that this helped to strengthen the overall plot and meaning of the film because it presented the plot of the film to us in a real sense. It was a very unusual, yet effective opener to the film. During the actual film though, I was impressed with how the film began, not only did the murky and shadowy scenes give us an eerie feeling but it also helped to introduce the fairly smokey and blurry story behind the film, it also helps to introduce the time and location of the scene well to us too. And this is a common theme here, each scene is properly presented with a time frame, location and the purpose of the scene, these are throughout and serve a great purpose, because not only do they show time progression, but they also give an insight into what the scene is about, which is very helpful, especially as the film jumps around lots in term of times and location.
Onto the beginning of the film (again) though, the film started with a group of teenagers breaking into a prohibited area and then swimming in a lake, not only does this scene give an intense feeling to the film, but the contrast of emotions seeing them enjoying themselves, only for them to be cleared on and chemicals sprayed in the water helps to shock us and to help us to take the film and it's story seriously. It's effective though, because it introduces the film in a different way to what we expect, by showing us a scene which doesn't have any relevance in terms of storyline, but it's intended effect is to immerse us into the story from the very beginning and it does that very well.
The film then transitions to introduce us to the characters, they're introduced fairly vaguely at first but this helps to make and keep the characters feeling exciting and interesting, because the unique insights that we do get (seeing them in meetings, on the farm together etc.) give us the key information to understand their role within the film, and then the film nicely inserts less valuable characteristics later on to keep the characters feeling fresh, such as the problems with Rob's muscles that occur later on in the film. It also helps to give us time to get to know the characters, the film makes it very clear at the start the characters roles and purposes in the film, however, as it progresses, the film does a great job of giving a personal and in-depth view of the characters. For example, giving us an introduction and insight into his family and home life allows us to distinguish how Rob's home/work-life balance is managed, and how each of them affect and manage the other - it's a really interesting view that the film provides and covering the theme of stress in the film is also a key element I liked too, the film doesn't try to portray Rob as a superhero, but instead, more of a normal family man who gets dragged into a big storm and I liked this because seeing his life from a fairly low level allows us to get inside of his head and to understand the logic and thought behind his decisions, his thoughts and his emotions and it allows us to connect nicely to him.
The characters feel great in this film though, not only do they all have a purpose and an important role to play in the story of the film, but they are emotive and passionate, characters show their emotions well, if they're angry at a meeting, or upset at the loss of a loved one, the characters here show them emotions, and they show them well which helps them to connect with us. This movie is a labour of love for Mark Ruffalo, who stars and also co-produces. I've seen a lot of the films that Ruffalo has made in his career and also films he has starred in, and I don't know that he's ever been better, playing the almost mousy yet determined lawyer. Not only does he feel realistic but he has a likeable and unique feeling to him, we witness him putting in the hard work to find evidence, and putting in the work to win the case and it helps to make him a character that the audience root for. Anne Hathaway seems underused as the supportive spouse but as the movie goes deeper, her role expands and becomes more and more important, I found myself expecting some sort of powerful emotion whenever she was involved in a scene, whether this was from sadness or anger, and it is clear that it is a role she excels in, even if she was a little underused towards the beginning of the film. Still, though, I found the characters to be unique and exciting, and over the variety of characters that were here, I liked how realistic and immersive their culture felt. Seeing the farmer emotionally scarred and hurt after witnessing his cows dying and DuPont breaking into his house, leaving him on watch outside instead of sleeping is a difficult pill to swallow, but says a lot about the unique characteristics, and the strong personalities that they each have, coming together to create a sort of mixed cocktail, putting a variety of completely different things in the mix, and seeing it coming out well, and creating an effective and realistic ecosystem in the film.
One of the best parts of the film for me though resides with the storyline, I loved it. Not only is it unique, but the fact that it is a true story means that it is an important film for all to check out, and to witness how these things are still going on today - it feels like the film/message ratio was dealt with well, as it doesn't blatantly blurt out the message, but it delves into it well and makes a really exciting and well thought out story out of it - which can be used as a form of message. Overall though, the film builds up its gripping and exciting storyline very well, by establishing it as a small side job for Rob, but then escalating it into a full-on case investigation, and this investigation feeling to the film helps to keep it feeling intense and exciting throughout, as we are always on the edge of our seats, waiting for clues or progress with the case. As well as this though, the film has an extremely weird vibe to it throughout, it helps to match the feeling towards DuPont for their poisonings and I can't put my finger on the exact word (if there even is one) but there is a weird feeling to the film which helps to personify the meaning behind the film.
The film is just generally exciting though and feels established well, which help scenes to flow together really nicely and fluidly and helps to make the film easily understandable.
The dialogue and captions help with this too, and they make it easy to follow what is going on in the film so that the story can be easily followed and enjoyed. The story is just really exciting and gripping though, partly because of how well it is executed and partly as to how it hits home to everyone because it symbolises the corruption within some governments and the dangers that we still face. These help to intensify and give the film a serious and powerful feeling to it, which helps to make scenes feel interesting and enjoyable. The film doesn't contain big scenes as such, but it maintains a solid level of intensity throughout, the film always feels like it is against a timer, and that Rob is always in danger, and it gives the film a definite sense of excitement and tension to it - because the film showcases how family and friends of Rob are attacked, and this exemplifies the possible dangers he could be in. The film has a good and solid level of pace to it, which keeps things moving quickly, and keeps it from dragging on too long.
What I thought was well executed in the film though is how immersed it makes us feel within the case and investigation, we witness the stress and pressure on Rob, as well as the importance of the case, and seeing progression and breakthroughs in research feel exciting because the film encompasses us so well within the plot. I like a lot how the film is not flamboyant, it's a slow-burn but easy to watch even though the subject material is not a happy one in any way. The pacing is steady and deliberate and works well to keep things rolling.
The film isn't perfect though, and I did encounter a few problems and issues relating to things I didn't like about the film. I'd have to admit that if the movie wasn't about real events, it would be so-so. However, because it is based on actual events ... you can't help but want to know how the movie unfolds. It has a really weird feeling to it, it's weird because the film doesn't feel massively gripping, but the underlying story does - probably because it's real - but the intensity and speed that I would expect to see from a film like this just wasn't there, as I mentioned before, it is a slow burner and to be honest, I'm not sure if it's completely appropriate in this story. Also, the story feels a little messy in terms of execution, I felt some scenes jumped around a lot without any explanation as to their purpose, I understood them but I felt like it was a vague understanding (in some places) because a lot was going on, when not a massive amount of that is useful to the film. Dark Waters is the film you need to see to understand what’s going on in the world today. No one ever really notices DuPont products and how they surround us every day, but maybe this will help you realise its damages to the people of the world and the threat that they release.
Overall, I would give this film an 8. I like it, I really do, but I feel like most of that is from the plot idea and knowing that it is based on a real story, rather than a made-up one, don't get me wrong though, the film is exciting and enjoyable to follow, and it tells a really important message through its immersive and unique characters, but for me, there just isn't a level of intensity or grip that I would want from a film as powerful and controversial as this one - and I think that it lets the film down a little. The film still tells an incredibly important message, and for that reason, I would recommend it for all. It gives a great and incredibly important insight into how different the gap is between what we do and what we don't know as to what companies/governments get up to and is definitely worth the watch for its important storyline.
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing this review, I hope you have a lovely day! If you would like to check out my Official Facebook page where you can see sneak previous and more film insights then please consider checking out the link below!
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